The Media That Matters Film Festival showcases inspirational short films from young independent filmmakers. This is the tenth year that Media That Matters has brought together a collection of 12 short films – each under 12 minutes – aimed at engaging diverse audiences and inspiring action.
Working Films co-founder and executive director, Robert West, will be hosting the Media That Matters UK premiere event with UK staff member Sarah Mosses. The jury-selected collection of films look at a broad range of human rights and social justice issues from the experience of transgender youth to health care in the US, the tyranny of the beauty industry, racial prejudice and the experiences of Guantanamo Bay detainees. A highlight will be a conversation with Omar Deghayes, who is featured in the final film of the evening, Justice Denied: Voices from Guantanamo.
This event marks the launch of a year-round programme of screenings, debates and actions in response to the films. The Media That Matters collection will be available on their website.
For further details and booking please visit the Frontline Club. It’s likely to be a sold out event, so early booking is advised!
DENIED
USA |12:00| Documentary
Directed & Produced by Julie Winokur
Simultaneously battling cancer and abandonment by her insurance company, one woman fights for her right to health care.
JURY AWARD
I’M JUST ANNEKE
Canada & USA |11:14| Documentary
Directed & Produced by Jonathan Skurnik
With the support of family and friends, a 12-year-old experiences the onset of puberty in the fluid space between genders.
CHANGEMAKER AWARD
I AM SEAN BELL
USA |10:36| Documentary
Directed & Produced by Stacey Muhammad
Young boys reflect on the Sean Bell tragedy, speaking out about their fears and hopes as they approach manhood in a city where the lives of young black men are often cut short.
SPEAKING OUT AWARD
NO ONE BOTHERED
UK & Canada |7:54| Documentary
Directed by Josephine Boxwell, Produced by Laurie Nicholls Meet Claire and Darren, and take a tour of the streets they used to call home and the daily ridicule they encountered.
EMPOWERMENT AWARD
SHADES OF THE BORDER
DR, Haiti, & USA |12:00| Documentary
Directed & Produced by Patrick Smith
One island, two countries, many skin colors. A history of racial prejudice divides the island of Hispaniola.
RACIAL DIALOGUE AWARD
MY HOTNESS IS PASTED ON YEY!
USA |5:37| Experimental, Puppetry
Directed & Produced by Gus Andrews
What do audiences want-naked truth or flawless beauty? Puppets Weena and Erna expose the trade secrets of an industry chasing after perfection.
FAIR USE AWARD
DAY JOB
USA |6:36| Documentary
Directed & Produced by Sara Hopman
Day laborers voice their grievances and reflect on the challenges they face as they bide their time in parking lots, hoping that work is around the corner.
ECONOMIC JUSTICE AWARD
THE LAST TOWN
China & USA |7:26| Documentary
Directed & Produced by Yan Chun Su
What if your hometown ceased to exist? Take one last look at a 2000-year old town before it is flooded by China’s Three Gorges Dam project.
SUSTAINING TRADITIONS AWARD
AQUAFINITO
USA |8:18| Documentary
Directed & Produced by Annalise Littman
Why do consumers ignore our most “green” source of drinking water-the tap? A simple taste test yields eye- opening results.
YOUTH SUSTAINABILITY AWARD
UNINSURED IN THE MISSISSIPPI DELTA
USA |5:17| Documentary
Directed & Produced by Katie Falkenberg
In one of the most impoverished and uninsured areas in the U.S., the inhabitants of the Mississippi Delta grapple daily with an impossible dilemma: do they put food on the table or life-saving medicine in the cabinet?
HUMAN RIGHTS AWARD
LESSONS FROM A TAILOR
USA |8:23| Documentary
Directed by Galen Summer, Produced by Caitlin Dourmashkin Entrepreneur Martin Greenfield’s infectious passion and hopeful perspective bring his community and his employees more than just jobs.
PERSPECTIVES AWARD
JUSTICE DENIED: VOICES FROM
GUANTANAMO
UK & USA |9:30| Documentary
Directed by Joel Engardio, Produced by Joel Engardio & Ateqah Khaki Wrongfully imprisoned and later released, Guantanamo detainees recount their stories as they move on with their lives and chart a course for healing.
GLOBAL JUSTICE AWARD
Natalie Difford of Chicken & Egg Pictures and Emily Verellen of the Fledgling Fund have been catching some of the excitement on their blogs, Facebook and Twitter pages.
In this video, Emily asks Lora Smith, the Appalachian Regional Coordinator for the fantastic film, Deep Down, what sustains her activism.
How can filmmakers whose movies touch on similar issues collaborate? How can they not!?!
I’m preparing to spend next week in the Bay Area with some amazing and dedicated filmmakers and audience engagement coordinators. We’ll be figuring out where the overlaps in their campaigns lie and how they can cover more ground together than they could alone. The films chosen for this innovative retreat are Cape Wind, Deep Down, Dirty Business, Gas Land, Split Estate, Sun Come Up, and When Two Worlds Collide. These projects are all focusing on the impact of unchecked natural resource extraction and/or innovative solutions for turning things around before it is too late. You can watch the trailers on our workshop page.
On day four, we’ll head to the Brower Center in Berkeley and will be joined by a number of groups central to the energy and natural resource revolution, including Bay Localize, Conservation International, Critical Resistance, Earthworks, Environmental Working Group, Green for All, NRDC, Physicians For Social Responsibility (SF), Post Carbon Institute, Progressive Jewish Alliance, Project Survival Media, Rainforest Action Network, The Redford Center, Sierra Club, Speak Out, The 11th Hour Project, and additional foundation funders and individual donors.
At the end of the week we’ll regroup with the filmmakers and audience engagement coordinators to determine the essential next steps to help collaboration flourish.
We’ll be sure to post updates along the way here, as well as on our Facebook and Twitter page. If you are with an organization, foundation, or brand and are interested in joining this collaborative in some capacity in the future, contact me at khenry at workingfilms.org.
Sen. John McCain (R-AZ)was clear in his campaign ad last week: “Complete the danged fence,” he told an Arizona sheriff, who appeared with him in the immigration-themed ad.
The fence that McCain was referring to is actually a series of barriers along the U.S.-Mexican border that were approved by congress in 2006. It’s also the subject of Rory Kennedy’s short film “The Fence (La Barda).”
Kennedy’s film, shot well before Arizona’s new immigration law or McCain’s new ad, calls into question the effectiveness and the unintended consequences of the $3 billion fence.
Last month, Working Films and Chicken & Egg Pictures hosted a screening of Nancy Schwartzman’s film The Line, for our Story Leads to Action series at 92YTribeca. After the screening, the audience discussed how the film could be used in high schools, college freshman orientation programs, sexual violence prevention programs and law school and criminal justice education.
On the panel were:
- Nancy Schwartzman (Director)
- Michelle J. Anderson (Dean and Professor of Law at CUNY School of Law)
- Neil Irvin (Executive Director, Men Can Stop Rape)
- Don McPherson (former NFL football player; current sports announcer and activist)
- Meghan O’Conner (NYC Alliance Against Sexual Assault)
On her blog, Nancy gives a breakdown of the key points that each panelist spoke on.
Also, check out what Jessica at “The Love That is Strong” had to say about the screening along with their thoughts on the larger discussion of sexual violence awareness and consent.
